Refrigerator safe



July .6, 1937. z. A, DYER 2,086,013

' REFRIGERATOR SAFE Filed March 11, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 July 6, 1937. z, E 2,086,018

REFRIGERATOR SAFE Filed March ll, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented July 6, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,086,018 REFRIGERATOR. SAFE Zeb A. Dyer, Los Angeles, cam..- assignor of onethird to l turic R. Templeton, Los Angela,

Calif.

Application Mal-ch 11, 1937, Serial No. 130,234 4 Claims. (Cl. 312-168) home owner, with the result that the average home does not have a safe place in which to leave valuables.

atively inexpensive home safe for the purpose,

pointed out hereinabove. One of the features of safes at present on the market which renders these expensive is the necessity for fire-proofing these to protect the valuables contained therein in case the building in which the safe is installed burns.

It is therefore another object of my invention to provide a home safe, the cost of which is decreased by the fact that it utilizes the insulating eifect of heat resisting material normally provided in the'refrigerator in the home.

The manner in which the above objects are accomplished as well as furtherobjects andadvantages will be made manifest in the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a preferred embodiment of my invention both as a refrigerator floor safe and as a refrigerator door safe.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view similar to Fig. 1, illustrating the refrigerator floor safe shown in Fig. 1 with the drawer thereof open.

Fig. 3 is a side elevational view of the combined refrigerator and safe shown in Fig. 1 with an upper portion thereof broken away to illustrate in cross section the two forms of safe embodied with this refrigerator.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged cross sectional view of the refrigerator door safe shown in Fig. 3. 1

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4 with the door of said safe open. K

Fig. 6 is an enlarged cross sectional view taken on line 66 of Fig. 3.

Fig.7 is a fragmentary enlarged cross sectional view of the drawer construction of the refrigerator floor safe shown in Fig. 3.

Referring specifically to the drawings, a preferred embodiment of my invention is shown I I1. installation in homes for providing this. protec tion, these safes are too costly for the average It is an object of my invention to provide a reltherein as incorporated with "a refrigerator Iii,

which is representative of any of the well known makes of power-operated refrigerators currently employed in domestic use. This refrigerator has side walls H, 'back'wall l2, a top wall l3, and a floor I4 which cooperate to form a refrigerator chamber IS, the front of which has an opening it, which is adapted to be closed by an air-tight door The side and rear walls I l and I2 extend downwardly to form a power unit housing 20, the front of which is-coveredby a panel} I, and which refrigerates the chamber I5 through a refrigerating unit 22. The preferred construction of the walls of the-refrigerator III is to form these with an outer steel shell 25, an inner steel shell 26, the space between these shells containing a heat insulating material '21, which may be ground cork.

Ifdesired this cork may be faced with sheet asbestos placed between the cork and the shells 25 and 26. -The do0r ll of the refrigerator l0, when closed, practically comprises another vertical wall of the refrigerator, and the preferred construction of this door is to have a steel outer shell 30. a steel inner shell 3|, the space between these containing heat resistant materials 32 as described for the other walls of the'refrigerator. The floor ll of the refrigerator has -an upper plate 35 and a lowerplate 36, the space between these.

plates also being rial 31-.

Permanently mounted in the'door I1 is a door safe 4ll, .this safe including a rectangular steel box fll having a steel door 42 pivotally mounted on the box and a lock 43 which may be a key look as shown or a combination look if this is desired.

filled with heat resistant mate;

. The safe 40 is set into the insulating material 32 by insertion through the opening 45- formed in' the inner plate 3| of the door. Provided on the plate 3| at the edges of the opening 45 are flanges which are welded to the box 4| of the safe 40. As shown in Fig. 1 therefore, the exposed face of the safe 4|, when the door 42 thereof is closed, lies flush with the. exposed face of the plate 3! of the door I'I.

Optional with the provision of the safe 40 in the door I! or in conjunction therewith, I may provide a safe incorporated with another portion of the refrigerator Ill so as to lie within the refrigerating chamber 15 when the door I! of the refrigerator is closed. As anexample of this I have shown in the drawings a refrigerator floor safe which is built into the lower end of the chamber l5 by the welding of a heavy sheet metal floor plate 5| to the inner sheet metal shell 26, just that distance above the sheet metal floor plate 35 as will permit a safe drawer I! to be slid inwardly between these plates. The drawer 52 may be provided with one or more locks either key operated or combination operated and in the drawings it is shown as having two key operated locks 53, which are located at adjacent opposite ends of the drawer 52.

As above stated, the refrigerator door safe 40 and the refrigerator floor safe 50 are merely illustrative and may be used singly, or both may be used in the same refrigerator, or similar safes may be embodied elsewhere in the structure of the refrigerator so as to be substantially an integral part of the refrigerator and be embraced within the confines of the heat resistant material of the walls of the refrigerator.

The use of the safes 40 or 50 is the same as any residence safe. Being formed integrally with the refrigerator III, however, these safes cannot be removed bodily from the house in which the refrigerator is located except by removing the entire refrigerator or by a very difficult wrecking operation requiring acetylene torches and the like.

The safes themselves are sturdily built so that an equally complicated wrecking operation would be required to open the safes without removing the latter from the refrigerator;

It is thus seen that Ihave provided a safe so combined with a refrigerator so as to render this safe suitable for protecting valuables in a home, which is relatively inexpensive and secure against burglary.

Another advantage of the safe of my invention is that valuables it contains are relatively proof against destruction by fire by virtue of the fact that this safe is embraced within the confines of the heat resistant material of the refrigerator walls so as to protect the contents of the safe in the event of burning of the home in which the refrigerator is located, except under such adverse circumstances as where the refrigerator is crushed or opened, thus giving the flames access to the interior of the refrigerator.

When building the safe II in the refrigerator door ll, the space ll opposite the safe which is .left available for heat resistant material 32 is relatively narrow, and this space may, therefore, be filled with a heat resistant material which is specially adaptedto resist high temperatures such as asbestos, expanded vermiculite or the like. In fact, the heat resistant material used in the construction of the refrigerator l may all be of a I character such as to resist decomposition at exsubstantially burglar-proof safe deposit box having lock means and embodied with the structure of said refrigerator so as .to lie within the heatresistant walls of the latter when said refrigerator is closed, and so united with the structure of said refrigerator as to require the destruction of said safe deposit box or a substantial portion of said refrigerator in order to gain access to said safe deposit box while the latter is locked or in order to remove said safe deposit box from said refrigerator.

2; A combination as in claim 1, in which one of the walls of said refrigerator-is hinged to said refrigerator as a door, said burglar-proof safe deposit box being embodied with said door wall.

3. A combination as in claim 1, in which said burglar-proof safe deposit box is embodied with the floor wall of said refrigerator.

4. A combined refrigerator and safe deposit box, which comprises: a refrigerator adapted for installation as a unit, said refrigerator having relatively thick heat resistant walls, the latter having a steel lining; and a relatively small substantially burglar-proof safe deposit box substantially integrally united with said inside steel lining of said refrigerator walls..

. ZEB A. DYER. 

